What are you reading...?

Being part of a book club that meets once a month means I get to read lots of non romance books intermingled with my daily fix of romance.

Here's what I've been reading this month:

The Woman Who Stole My Life is Marian Keyes' newest release. It's a story about a beauty therapist who becomes an overnight sensation with a book she *wrote* while in hospital, completely paralysed with a rare disease called Guillan- Barre syndrome. And about how the syndrome and the success change her life completely.

The book is written the way a lot of books seem to be written these days...out of chronological order. We flick back and forth between the past and the present, and while this isn't too difficult to follow you do have to keep reminding yourself where you are.

I think I've read all of Keyes' books and loved her earlier works with a passion; one of the first 'chick lit' authors, her stories were always littered with emotion and humour. This one lacks a lot of the humour, but has lots of emotion and those endearing Irish accents....

The Girl On The Train had me up at night desperate to finish it. It's a psychological thriller (not something I usually read) written from three women's POV.

Rachel, the main protagonist, travels on the commuter train to London every morning and every evening and stares out of the window watching the world go by. The train always stops at a junction next to a row of houses and she has made up stories in her head about the lives of one of the couples there. (not sure if this makes me weird, but I do that a lot ;-)). One day she sees something that she knows is wrong and detrimental to the couple's lives...

Again this book is written in the past and the present..so we have three women and different timelines, so it did get a little confusing- but the scenes are all headed with the name of the character so it's not too onerous! This story was a little like Gone Girl, in that the narrators seemed unreliable in their recounting of events, and they weren't particularly likeable..but it was an awesome read!!

US by David Nicholls, author of One Day. This book made me laugh and cry so hard! The story follows the hapless scientist Douglas who is getting ready for his life to change once his son leaves home and goes to university. He doesn't realise just how much it is going to change until his wife tells him, in the middle of one night, that she is leaving home too. He manages to convince her to go on the Grand Tour of Europe that he has arranged (both wife and son are artists)...and they all embark on a trip that definitely changes all their lives. It is written with such humour and longing and determination that Douglas will keep his family together that you are desperately willing him on. It has tones of The Rosie Project in it too. I loved it.

I see that The Light Between Oceans was published in 2013, so I'm a bit behind the eight ball with this one. I picked it up last night in bed and loved the lyrical language and effortless beautiful descriptions about life on a lighthouse on a deserted coast in Australia in the 1920s. I only managed a few pages (I was tired after watching cricket the night before!)...I'll keep you posted.








Of course, I always have to have my fix of romance books- I have the first in the brand new Sarah Morgan series to start just as soon as I finish The Light Between Oceans, plus the 175 books on my kindle waiting to be finished!








Oh and talking of books...I just got the cover for my Medial romance May release: Tempted By Her Italian Surgeon...what do you think?

What are you reading? Any gems to share?

The World Inside my Head

As a newly published author one of the most common questions I’m asked is…what inspires you? So, as I’m a new cat on the block, I thought I’d introduce myself by letting you in on a few of my secrets, what inspires me and just what is going on with my brain cells?

WARNING: You may not want to know what’s inside my head –it’s not always pretty! Proceed with caution!

Waipu Township

Places  I love to travel, I’ve been very lucky and visited quite a few places on my bucket list, but there are tons more places I’m burning to see. I aim to use some of those locations in the settings of my stories- but it’s early days, and so far I’ve used the real place Waipu in Northland as my jumping off point for creating fictional towns North Beach and Atanga Bay in books 1,2 and 3. 

Waipu Cove Beach

But in book 4 (currently unfinished), we visit real cities –Auckland and Rotorua here in New Zealand. It’s fun making up your own places, you can decide what’s there, how it looks etc- but it’s also great to use actual places so that readers can visualize exactly where your characters are. I’m planning book 5 and itching to use more glamorous places- London, Paris, Sydney, possibly LA.

People  At first, when creating my characters I used to trawl through websites and find pictures of glamorous people to help inspire me. That’s great for the exterior image- who wouldn’t love the adorable Paul Sculfer or cute Natalie Portman (both inspirations for my The War-Hero’s Locked-Away Heart book)? 

Paul Sculfor- source BangShowbiz

The real essence of my characters comes from people I know- the inner strength they have  when faced with adversity, or people I read about. Recently I read Katie Piper’s story- OMG, what a brave and strong woman – such courage. I’ve also spent 22 years working as a nurse and know first hand what both sick people and medical professionals have to go through every day. Dedication and professionalism, humility, vulnerability, grim determination…

some of my current faves

Food As the owner of over 85 cookbooks I hold my hand up and say I LOVE FOOD! (My first ever writing gig was creating recipes for an organic veggie delivery service in Manchester, UK). So food rates pretty high on my must-have list for my stories. In each of my books I try to match appropriate food with characters- it’s a fun thing to do- and what’s nicer than having the hero cook for the heroine? My most recent cookbook purchase is Marian Keye’s Saved by Cake- which I bought not just for the recipes (and I need all the help I can get with baking) – but also for the story of her recovery from mental illness. I love food of all kinds- although, (dare I admit this?) I’m not a huge fan of ice-cream…

Passion By this I don’t just mean high sensuality rating- although I do love a good HOT book! I mean- belief in something so strongly that you would do anything to achieve it. As a budding writer I made my craft and aspiration my passion (although I do have others too – on a frivolous level I couldn’t live without Zumba, but on a more serious note I’m a passionate proud member of Amnesty International). I tend to create characters who have a passion for SOMETHING. In my first book One Month to Become a Mum my heroine’s passion was for helping underprivileged kids. In Waking Up with His Runaway Bride, Mim’s passion was keeping her GP practice open, despite the odds, in remembrance of her mother. And in The War Hero’s Locked-Away Heart, Skye’s passion was to travel. I just love someone with burning ambition or dedication to a cause, it adds an extra dimension to their character- what do they have to do to achieve their dream? How can I, as a writer, make it difficult for them? (Mwahahaha…)

So, that’s a bit about me, and some of what makes me tick. I’m very pleased to meet you all – tell me, what inspires you? What are you passionate about? Do you love food too –any cookbook recommendations?

I have a signed copy of One Month to Become a Mum to give away to one commenter.